Next.js Starter Template With Authentication + React 17 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS 2 + ESLint

Next.js has become my go-to framework for almost every project that I make. So, I made a starter template that I can just use and get started easily.

In this article, I will show you how to use the starter template that I made and deploy it with Vercel. I will also be connecting a Postgres database which I will create on Heroku.

What all does this starter template has?

Next.js/React 17
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS 2
React Query
React Query Dev Tools
Prisma 2
GitHub Auth
Email + Passwordless Auth
Postgres
ESLint
Prettier
Husky

If this is the tech stack that you are interested in, then follow along.

1. Use Template

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Go to pbteja1998/nextjs-starter repo and click on Use this template button.

2. Create Repo

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Follow the instructions and create your repo

3. Deploy to Vercel

3.1. Import Project

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3.2. Import Git Repo

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Let's import from Git Repository

3.3.

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Enter the URL of the repo that you created earlier and Continue.

3.4. Create Vercel Project

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Choose the name of the project and Deploy. We will be adding the required environment variables later.

3.5. Successful Deployment

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You should see this once deployed. Open the dashboard after a successful deployment.

3.6. Dashboard

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That's it. Your Next.js starter application has been deployed to Vercel. You can click on Visit to open the website.

3.7. Web Application Demo

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You should see something like this. This home page template is taken from one of the examples in tailwindcss.com

4. Create a database

We need a database to store users and user sessions. I will be using the Postgres database. But you can use whatever you want. If you already have a URL for your database, you can skip this step. I will be using Heroku to create a Postgres database.

4.1. Create a new Heroku app

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4.2. Go to Resources Tab and add `Heroku Postgres` addon

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4.3.

Heroku Postgres has a free tier available. I will be using that for the demonstration.

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4.4. You now have a new Postgres DB created. Click on the addon to open the database dashboard

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4.5. View Credentials

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Click on Settings and then View Credentials.

4.6. Copy Database URI

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You should be able to see the database URI now. Copy that we will be using it later. Also, note that the free tier Heroku database credentials are not permanent. They change periodically. So, when you are deploying for production, use some other database that is stable or upgrade your Heroku database to a paid plan.

5. Setup Environment Variables

5.1. Open Env Vars dashboard in your newly created Vercel project

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5.2. Add DATABASE_URL

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Create a new secret

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Save environment variable

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Create `NEXTAUTH_URL` variable

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This is the URL of the deployment.

Similarly, create all the variables that you can see in .env.example file of the repo.

SECRET
- Some random string
SMTP_HOST
- SMTP host to send emails from. Example: smtp.zoho.com
SMTP_PORT
- Your SMTP port. Example: 465
SMTP_USER
- Your SMTP user. Example: bhanuteja@mycompany.org
SMTP_PASSWORD
- Your email/SMTP password.
SMTP_FROM
- Email address from where you want your emails to come from.
GITHUB_ID
- Your Github OAuth App ID
GITHUB_SECRET
- Your Github OAuth App Secret

You can follow the steps described here to create a GitHub OAuth application. While creating that OAuth app, add https://<vercel-deployment-url>/api/auth as Authorization callback URL. For example, in my case, I will add https://nextjs-starter-kit-psi.vercel.app/api/auth The rest of the fields, you can fill with anything.

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After adding all the environment variables, you need to redeploy the application for the changes to take effect.

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Now, your new deployment will have GitHub authentication and passwordless login with email.

I will also make a slim version of the starter kit in the future which will not require any database setup.

If you have any suggestions or face any problems setting this up, open a new issue in the repo. I will be more than happy to help you resolve those. If you like this starter kit, give a star to pbteja1998/nextjs-starter repo.

Until Next Time 👋

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If you have any comments, please leave them below or you can also @ me on Twitter (@pbteja1998), or feel free to follow me.

Next.js Starter Template With Authentication + React 17 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS 2 + ESLint

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